Event details

Billions of years ago the Big Bang sent everything flying apart. In theory, gravity should stop galaxies from moving apart and matter should eventually re-collapse on itself. Surprisingly, we have learnt that galaxies are actually moving apart with ever-increasing speed. Nothing in our current knowledge of physics can explain this, but theorists are developing a solution: dark energy. Roughly 70% of our universe is comprised of dark energy and yet so little is known about it, but satellite and laboratory experiments are under way. Join Dr Clare Burrage as she reveals the nature of dark energy, how it affects other matter in the universe, and what plans we have for observing this mysterious force.

Dr Clare Burrage is a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham.

This event is chaired by Professor James Hough OBE FRS who is Associate Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research at the University of Glasgow.